mgo.licio.us

"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

What, Exactly, is Rich Rodriguez Building?

I've got no typical Scout disclaimer to begin with. You know, when a guy says, "Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some Rich Rodriguez. I think we're gonna win the next 14 national championships. I now drink 4 gallons of chocolate milk every day. I haven't washed my underwear since we beat the Minnesota Golden Goophers. Charlie Weis is fat. BUT..."
I simply question why people are giving Rich Rodriguez so much of the benefit of the doubt. You can call me negative. you can call me a "Closet Sparty," you can call me a "H8TER," but I don't care.
Charlie Weis, Jim Tressel, and Mark Dantonio--the coaches of Michigan's most hated rivals--all won with with another guy's players. They all came in and implemented different systems, brought all new assistants, all of them are assholes, and yet--they ALL won with players they did not recruit (but they did add some of their own). And all of them did even better in Year 2. You can argue that Notre Dame fell off over the last two years--but at least Charlie Weis is recruiting the hell out of (whatever you recruit the hell out of), and Ohio State is stockpiling talent in a big way. They also have this one guy named Terelle Pryor.
And Dantonio? All he is doing is winning over provincial Michigan and provincial, sniping, self-righteous Michigan Media members and the perception is that MSU is THE program in Michigan. Yeah, Michigan high school football may not put out tons of talent, but Michigan has benefitted from being the Big Dawg in our great state for 40 years, and many, MANY Michigan stars have come from My Michigan. But overnight, MSU has seemingly usurped UM in the hearts and minds of Michigan, and Dantonio has, to this point, won a sort of "culture war" with UM. He tutored under the all-time passive agrressive genius in Columbus, and he is indeed making the state of Michigan greener.
So where does that leave Rich Rodriguez, Michigan football, and Michigan football fans?

Well, in my opinion, this goes way deeper than just shouting "We'll be back!" "Wait'll Rich Rod gets his players!"

Let's look at it from strictly a football standpoint for this first "blog" of mine.

2008: Rich Rod is hired. UM implements some sort of "spread" for the Capital One Bowl and beats Florida. Everyone happy. Everyone clap. Everyone say: "Where has this been? See what we can do? Look at what Rich Rod did at West Virginia! Now, with MICHIGAN TALENT--LOOK OUT BEEYOTCHEZZ!" And when Rich Rodriguez holds Lloyd's last recruiting class pretty much intact (losing only a tight end and a drop back QB)--and adding SIX players to that class in the 11th hour--it was party time!

Let's fast forward past last football season to now.

The recruiting class from 2008, for those who care to notice, is not looking so great, expecially for a team so thin. We have seen five players leave the team. A sixth, Justin Feagin, may never see the field again. The horribly named Mike Cox is a huge question mark. Even Darryl Stonum causes people to wonder. People, that's over 25% of the class.
2009 saw a great class come in. Eligibility questions aside, it is a good mix of real talent, offense and defense, and diamonds in the rough. And Rodriguez again showed great 11th-hour prowess with the signings of Warshington, Robinson, Lewan, Roh and Lalota.
But with so many departures during the first-year transition, and the attrition already seen from the 2008 class, 2009 and 2010 have to be HOME RUNS for a team that is thin with defensive talent and depth.

When Scout posters began hating on star gazing, forty times, and Michigan high school talent, they all shouted in unison: "Look at the offer sheets!" Well I did--and it ain't pretty.
To wit: Four---FOUR of the verbals from this class have no other offers.

Outside of Christian Pace, MRob, Ricardo Miller, Jeremy Jackson, Kenny Wilkins, and Devin Gardner, the other schools offering UM recruits are these (according to Scout): Army, Bowling Green, Indiana, Stanford, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Duke, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Minnesota, and Tulane. I have to admit--that is an impressive list--if you are going after possible future Rhodes Scholars and guys who can go out on a date with a coed and not even think about buying a condom. But Big Time national championships? Not so much. And go ahead and color me not terribly awed by a 6'2, 256 lbs offensive lineman in Pace. Can you say, "Another turbulent offseason splattered with multiple decommits?" I hope so.

Now we stand on the precipice of the 2009 season with two true freshmen at the most important position in the world (yes, even more important than the head cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys). We stand on the precipice of the 2009 season hoping that Brandon Graham and Mike Martin don't even get a hangnail. We stand on the precipice of a 2009 season which will see our beloved Wolverines go on the road to Iowa, Michigan State and Wisconsin. We stand on the fuck that. Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State are all coming to town. We have our THIRD defensive coordinator in THREE years.

I know you all want to think that Rodriguez is "building something"--and so do I. But I'd like to know what it is, and I'd like to know if you really think he has the time.

2009 and 2010 have to be all-time recruiting classes. We need them for talent and depth. We can't have half this class being "flyers"--if 25% of the guys you really DO want wash out--what are the odds with guys that NOBODY wants? It is scary. Expecially if you are a guy who, like me, is a real loser with no other identity than to put on my Michigan jammies and go to the mall on Sunday with my chest all puffed out, just daring some fucking pathetic fucktard to give me some shit. Of course, if he does, I'll rear back and say, "Hey, I was just robbed and the police gave me this stuff to wear because the goddam robber even took my clothes and stuffed them in a basket he had attached to his iron lung."

So you didn't like Lloyd Carr, and now you seemingly don't like Rodriguez. You don't like most of the fan base. You don't like Cox or Stonum and now you don't like most of the players in the 2010 class. For 18 of the last 19 years you've felt Michigan has been inferior to it's hated rival. You believe that michigan state is the more likable program in the state and that we've lost the culture war. And finally, if someone at the mall calls you out on wearing Michigan gear you're gonna tell them the cops made you do it.

You're a Michigan fan, how?

You bring up a couple of good points but reek of someone who is about to jump ship any day now (if you were ever on it in the first place) and needs a reason to justify it. It'll be a shame to see you go. You and your edgy, cool attempts at realism will be sorely missed.

Cliff Notes version because I'm tired of this shit:
1) No QB. Don't bother with shit about running off Mallett, Carr was about to send him packing too.
2) No offensive line. Ferrara was starting, he was a DT before summer practice. Do I need to say anything else?
3) If the offense/special teams weren't terrible the defense might have stood a chance. However, I can see how teaching the defense was probably hard given how terrible the offense was. I'm sure the coaching issues with everyone unsettled didn't help either.
4) Michigan did lead at least midway through each game except ND (turnover fest), OSU, and Utah (had a 2pt shot for the tie).

I'm gonna wait until Feb 2010 to bitch about the recruiting class coming off a 3-9 season, and wait until RR's had three years before I bother to 2nd guess him. I saw enough in the worst season in Michigan history to know that Rich Rod is a much better coach than Weis or Dantonio, and that epic battles with Tressel are forthcoming. If you can't see this, then you can get bent.

At WVU, Rich Rodriguez led teams composed of 3-star nobodies to 3 straight 11-win seasons (including convincing wins over Georgia and Oklahoma) and was a Pat White injury away from playing for a national championship.

Do you think he suddenly forgot how to coach?

Please allow me reiterate this next point for everyone about to jump off a ledge.

HE'S COACHED ONE F***ING SEASON!!! WITH NICK SHERIDAN COMPETING FOR THE STARTING QUARTERBACK! WITH BACKUPS BACKUPS STARTING ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE! WITHOUT THE TOP FOUR TACKLERS ON THE PREVIOUS YEAR'S DEFENSE! DOES THAT SOUND LIKE A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS?!?!?!?!?

Sorry about the yelling, but I get tired of the same crap over and over. Until RR proves that he's in over his head (a la Weis) then I will continue to trust his judgement. I'm certain RichRod has forgotten more about football than the collective braintrust of this board will ever know. So excuse me if I'm optimistic about our future and not listening to you or the rest of the doomsayers.

2) Did you see the 2 worst QBs in Michigan football history out there, trying hard...but both terrible in any system?

I did.

With an even decent QB last fall, we would have won at least 4 more games and had been 7-5 and we wouldnt be having this discussion right now.

Call us back after this season...and then the next as well.

It is funny how vital the QB position is in football. When one QB consistantly overthrows wide open WRs and has no touch on the short passing game, and the other is a noodle armed walk on who cant complete a pass longer than 20 yards down field... that does not bode well for an offense.

Throw in an almost entirely new OL, and losses to the NFL at WR (2), QB, RB and OL....

and you get lots of 3 and outs...inability to sustain drives and an immense pressure on the defense (which typically would break down in the second half as a result)

I don't know, nor do I care, if the sphincter believes what he writes or not. What I do know is that this post is the UM football blog equivalent of a shock site. It's intended to have a high shock value so that it offends and disturbs its readers in order to provoke a desired reaction. Obviously, I'm as guilty as anyone for responding, but that's how it strikes me.

It's quite the about face from how I remember sphincter. Not the shock value. I believe that's always been his shtick. Instead, it's this underlying enmity towards Rodriguez. It's as if the proprietors of a certain e-blog took some writing courses, turned on the spellchecker and went to town. Maybe sphincter has been hanging around Scout too long.

Recent recipient of the First Annual Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence

You guys all waste so much energy defending what I did NOT write about that you all miss the point of the post. Not one of you addressed the original post and the intent. You tangentially defend the horror of 2008, which I did not even get into. None of you address recruiting other than to say something like "Well hellz bellz, what'd you expect? We were 3-9 last year"--and I axe you: Is this MICHIGAN or is this Michigan.
Sorry, you bunch of sensitive panty liners: all I see is weak psyches whose self worth is heavily invested in Michigan football and ANY questioning of this regime, which to date has done little to inspire any kind of confidence (I mean, really, how many of you Defenders of the Rod have seen all these recruits, seen the coaching staff at work, have first-hand knowledge of what's goin on?)--and those of us who watch and have watched UM football for three decades have no right to question what's going on? Bullshit.

And since you guys all want to bring up 2008: Yeah, I get it. Threet and Sheridan suck. Of course, going into last season, all you guys though 7-5 was going to happen; this was MICHIGAN--we don't do terrible. Well, I say Toledo, Northworstern, Purdue--we did do terrible. And much more,

And the Scott Shafer hire? Seriously? Sorry, but a decent one or two years at Western Michigan and one decent game at Stanford--doesn;t earn you the Michigan DC job.

When the shit wasn't good before--it was all Lloyd Carr. Now that the shit sucks--it's all on the players.

So go back to the OP, and tell me where I didn't state FACTS, and then tell me what's wrong with it. And why it's just a matter of time before Rodriguez gets UM back to elite status. LOL

I noticed that one of the tags for this diary is ZipGoshBoots. I used to be a premium member on GoBlueWoverine (Scout's UM site) and there was a poster on that site with the handle "ZipGoshBoots" and pretty much posted EXACTLY the same type of stuff you are posting now.

You got it! The weather in Omaha? Great! Hey, why'd you drop premium membership? Don't you like how other posters come in here accusing me of being a Scout guy--yet they post exactly like Scout Guy?
I've been posting this for awhile because the way I see things, this coach has a LONG way to go to justify the hype, the MESS, and his 2.8 mill for six years. I hope he gets there--but I'm not so sure. Michigan is just like every other school. They need Mr Right Coach. Not so sure we have him.

you are right though, we should hand your disturbed edgy ass the keys to the program right away.

you know what's worse than scout idiots? people that call anyone with optimism "kool-aid" drinkers and second guess every. single. fucking. decision. like they are some brilliant football mind who just needs a chance to prove it.

look, we sucked last year. we might, OMG, suck this year. we might suck FOREVER. there's not a fucking thing you can do about it. i think the person hand-wringing about the future of the coach before the beginning of his second season and throwing out the "are we MICHIGAN or are we MICHIGAN" retardisms they copped from their sticky paged copy of Bo's Lasting Lessons is the one with a "self-worth" issue.

First, the notion that Tressel, Dantonio, and Weis all took someone else's players and won:

- Tressel's first year was OSU's worst this decade.
- Dantonio "won" in his first year, yes. By MSU's standards, 7-6 was brilliant. How hard could it have been to look good next to John L. Smith?
- Weis, as pointed out, did win. And rolled his fat ass downhill ever since. Do you seriously want Michigan to follow the Cheeseburger Path to Success?

Next, the complaint that 25% of RR's recruiting classes have/will wash out and/or have no impact whatsoever:

Basically, it shows your ignorance about recruiting. Why don't you go have a look at Lloyd's classes - actually, go take a look at any recruiting class at any school anywhere - and see how many of them have a 75% success rate? Not only would that be some kind of Holy Grail of recruiting, it would have a negative effect on other classes' success rates. There are only so many open spots on a two-deep; if you are expecting better than 75% of every class to be a wild success, you're quickly going to sink into an angry, spite-filled, bitter depression. Not that you have far to go.

"Tressel's first year at OSU was their worst this decade" Mmkay. Still beat Michigan and still went bowling. Want to compare some more? Well, think Rodriguez is gonna be hoisting the Crystal Football after this season?

You might not want to talk about MSU's standards when we UM fans are hoping against all hope that UM somehow bangs out 7-5 this year and makes some shit bowl. And Dantonio IMPROVED in Year 2. I know, even 4-8 will be an improvement for Rich Rod this year, so there is that.

Notre Dame? I mentioned they fell off. They had their own 3-9. And Weis responded with a great recruiting class or two after that.

On Michigan's recruiting: I know recruiting classes always have players that don't work out. Lots of 'em. But why bring up Carr's recruiting? Hell, he won more than he lost every season and never missed a bowl game, at least. I'm not gonna deny that the talent level here was way down after 2007--expecially with the defections. But again: TOLEDO down? No. Not buying it.

And a major point I'm trying to make with recruiting is that UM is thin--was thin before last year--will be thin next year--and the 2008 class is dwindling. The solution, IMO, is not to be competing for recruits with Nobody U and the Dukes and Army's of the world. I don't care about spread offense. There's no such thing as a "spread defense"--should be landing top recruits there any and every day. And spread shmed--you get good players and they can run it. Maybe the days of the 6'6 320 lbs road graders at OL are gone, but the rest is getting good playas, and there are a lot of good playas out there who can play the spread, even this Nuclear Super Secret Rich Rodriguez Spread that requires certain types of players.

as I read through the OP's replies. OSU/MSU fans on Freep and M Live use it all the time, and NO fan of M football would ever use that term, Many trolls troll there, and their M.O. is to say "our" a lot, and when confronted they usually say that their only problem with M is RR. Then they betray themselves by criticizing almost everything about the program, accusing defenders of being "apologists", making "personal attacks," and then finishing with a listing of why OSU is the best program by far.

So this idiot has followed the script nicely. Stay tuned for an explanation that not only was RR's WVA success because of the Miami et. al. departure, but if confronted with fact like Jamiemac, did, the next route is to say that RR's success was due to Pat White, and without P.W. he's not really had any success.

A man would just say he was a fan of another school and be upfront--you can get pissed at at guy like that but if he's smart you respect him. But you can't respect a troll.

"Before I could pull the trigger, I was hit by lightning, and bitten by a cobra."

I guess you can't keep all the trolls out all the time. The Wal-mart comment was the kicker for me. Only trolls say that. The funny thing is that he claims that no one addressed his original points, and I read plenty of posts that did just that. He is not a fan, nor a decent human being. He will be removed from this site like a cancer, or wart. His windbag hot air crap is stinky and offensive, and yes, he smells of elderberries. Ni! Bring forth another shrubbery! Sorry I just can't get enough of Monty Python. The Meaning of Life is my favorite flick by those guys... Anyhoo - you all know the drill. No reason to argue with a troll, it just fans the fire of their hatred for us and our favorite team. These people spend their whole life making people mad. I really don't get their motivation. Maybe it's because I'm not an asshole.

I've got no typical Scout disclaimer to begin with. You know, when a guy says, "Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some Rich Rodriguez. I think we're gonna win the next 14 national championships. I now drink 4 gallons of chocolate milk every day. I haven't washed my underwear since we beat the Minnesota Golden Goophers. Charlie Weis is fat. BUT..."
I simply question why people are giving Rich Rodriguez so much of the benefit of the doubt. You can call me negative. you can call me a "Closet Sparty," you can call me a "H8TER," but I don't care.

I've got no standard Scout disclaimer except for the following which is one huge disclaimer about how loyal and loving I am except for when I'm systematically dismantling any reason to be happy about Michigan football.

Charlie Weis, Jim Tressel, and Mark Dantonio--the coaches of Michigan's most hated rivals--all won with with another guy's players. They all came in and implemented different systems, brought all new assistants, all of them are assholes, and yet--they ALL won with players they did not recruit (but they did add some of their own). And all of them did even better in Year 2. You can argue that Notre Dame fell off over the last two years--but at least Charlie Weis is recruiting the hell out of (whatever you recruit the hell out of),

So your dream situation for Rich Rod would have been to inherit a fairly loaded team, and have his biggest win be a close loss? Or was it the year ND got shit canned by every team they played that posed even a slight challenge the one that got you all excited? You come here and want a fair shake, but you hold up Charlie fucking Weis and his thoroughly mediocre ND career as some sort of high standard? Like you wouldn't be pissing and moaning that RR "can't win the big one" after three season like Weis had?

and Ohio State is stockpiling talent in a big way. They also have this one guy named Terelle Pryor.

this happens when you go to 3 BCS title games in a decade.

And Dantonio? All he is doing is winning over provincial Michigan and provincial, sniping, self-righteous Michigan Media members and the perception is that MSU is THE program in Michigan. Yeah, Michigan high school football may not put out tons of talent, but Michigan has benefitted from being the Big Dawg in our great state for 40 years, and many, MANY Michigan stars have come from My Michigan. But overnight, MSU has seemingly usurped UM in the hearts and minds of Michigan, and Dantonio has, to this point, won a sort of "culture war" with UM. He tutored under the all-time passive agrressive genius in Columbus, and he is indeed making the state of Michigan greener.

Except for the big recruits like Devin Gardner and Will Campbell, who, you know, are coming to Michigan.

So where does that leave Rich Rodriguez, Michigan football, and Michigan football fans?

Well, in my opinion, this goes way deeper than just shouting "We'll be back!" "Wait'll Rich Rod gets his players!"

Where does this leave you? Furiously typing through the spittle flying off your balding head while you imagine the glory days and congratulate yourself for being too cool to support anything in case it might fail? Winning the ol' footrace to being the first one to "call it" re: failure?

Let's look at it from strictly a football standpoint for this first "blog" of mine.

2008: Rich Rod is hired. UM implements some sort of "spread" for the Capital One Bowl and beats Florida. Everyone happy. Everyone clap. Everyone say: "Where has this been? See what we can do? Look at what Rich Rod did at West Virginia! Now, with MICHIGAN TALENT--LOOK OUT BEEYOTCHEZZ!" And when Rich Rodriguez holds Lloyd's last recruiting class pretty much intact (losing only a tight end and a drop back QB)--and adding SIX players to that class in the 11th hour--it was party time!

Unless you had a functioning brain, in which case you realized the "Cap 1 Offense" was not a sustainable product and also relied heavily on having a 2nd round NFL QB under center and the #1 overall pick in the draft at left tackle with two NFL WRs on the outside playing against the sinking ship on fire that was the Florida secondary.

Let's fast forward past last football season to now.

The recruiting class from 2008, for those who care to notice, is not looking so great, expecially for a team so thin. We have seen five players leave the team. A sixth, Justin Feagin, may never see the field again. The horribly named Mike Cox is a huge question mark. Even Darryl Stonum causes people to wonder. People, that's over 25% of the class.

Stonum is a sophomore. The only person "wondering" is you. He had Nick Sheridan and Steve Threet throwing him the ball. He is a sophomore. He is a sophomore.

2009 saw a great class come in. Eligibility questions aside, it is a good mix of real talent, offense and defense, and diamonds in the rough. And Rodriguez again showed great 11th-hour prowess with the signings of Warshington, Robinson, Lewan, Roh and Lalota.

It's almost like Rodriguez has this ability to bring guys in late in the period and identify guys early who end up with a higher ranking than they originally had. Weird.

But with so many departures during the first-year transition, and the attrition already seen from the 2008 class, 2009 and 2010 have to be HOME RUNS for a team that is thin with defensive talent and depth.

When Scout posters began hating on star gazing, forty times, and Michigan high school talent, they all shouted in unison: "Look at the offer sheets!" Well I did--and it ain't pretty.
To wit: Four---FOUR of the verbals from this class have no other offers.

But even though it's happened the past two years, it is IMPOSSIBLE that Rodriguez will pick up recruits in the months after the OSU game and before signing day. IMPOSSIBLE.

Outside of Christian Pace, MRob, Ricardo Miller, Jeremy Jackson, Kenny Wilkins, and Devin Gardner, the other schools offering UM recruits are these (according to Scout): Army, Bowling Green, Indiana, Stanford, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Duke, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Minnesota, and Tulane. I have to admit--that is an impressive list--if you are going after possible future Rhodes Scholars and guys who can go out on a date with a coed and not even think about buying a condom. But Big Time national championships? Not so much. And go ahead and color me not terribly awed by a 6'2, 256 lbs offensive lineman in Pace. Can you say, "Another turbulent offseason splattered with multiple decommits?" I hope so.

So outside of 6 guys pretty universally hailed as potentially good to great players, we have a kinda mediocre class in late June. Do you realize how fucking batshit retarded that sounds? OMG WE ONLY HAVE LIKE 5 4* GUYS IN JUNE! And you really think Pace will be 256 lbs forever?

Now we stand on the precipice of the 2009 season with two true freshmen at the most important position in the world (yes, even more important than the head cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys). We stand on the precipice of the 2009 season hoping that Brandon Graham and Mike Martin don't even get a hangnail. We stand on the precipice of a 2009 season which will see our beloved Wolverines go on the road to Iowa, Michigan State and Wisconsin. We stand on the fuck that. Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State are all coming to town. We have our THIRD defensive coordinator in THREE years.

We stand on the precipice? Three times? Thanks, Mitch. Yeah, this season will be tough. I find it funny that despite your tough talk you seem to be wilting under the pressure of watching teenagers play football games.

I know you all want to think that Rodriguez is "building something"--and so do I. But I'd like to know what it is, and I'd like to know if you really think he has the time.

2009 and 2010 have to be all-time recruiting classes. We need them for talent and depth. We can't have half this class being "flyers"--if 25% of the guys you really DO want wash out--what are the odds with guys that NOBODY wants? It is scary. Expecially if you are a guy who, like me, is a real loser with no other identity than to put on my Michigan jammies and go to the mall on Sunday with my chest all puffed out, just daring some fucking pathetic fucktard to give me some shit. Of course, if he does, I'll rear back and say, "Hey, I was just robbed and the police gave me this stuff to wear because the goddam robber even took my clothes and stuffed them in a basket he had attached to his iron lung."

Bold 1: How did I "systematically dismantle any reason to be happy about Michigan football?"--I was highly complimetary of Rich Rod's efforts to hold the 2008 class together and add to it. I was likewise compplimentary of the 2009 class. I also mention great "prowess" at the 11th hour with the signings of other recruits such as DRob, Lewan, etc.

Bold 2: How DARE I compare UM to our bigest rivals and their coaches' first-yea records. And you bet, it WOULD have been my "dream situation" for Rodriguez to inherit a "loaded" team--but I know he didn't. I'm just not so sure the bare cupboard warranted losses to Toledo, Purdue, and Northworstern.

Bold 3: I do understand two things about Tressel's team: Yes, you do benefit from going to 3 BCS title games. And you do benefit from being the coach in a talent-rich state. But I go back to the argument that most UM fans seemed to make when Rodriguez was hired: He and Barwis, with their hands on Michigan Talent--well, the world just better look out. Michigan, in my opinion, should be a Big Time recruiter in football under any circumstance not underscored with the term "Probation."

Bold 4: "Except for recruits like Gardner and Campbell. First, great get with Gardner, I never expected that (thought he'd be a Buckeye). Bravo! Campbell? Yes, OK--but he WAS committed way before Rodriguez was hired. He has been a UM guy from Day One. And did you miss the key word in all that MSU stuff? Here it is again: PERCEPTION. Read that paragraph again, please.

Bold 5: We can go back and forth all day on this one. But no way am I wrong when we all saw that offense and had four-foot boners until the next September. Priapism aside, I realized it was Chad Henne. I also know a bit of sarcasm when I see it. Apparently a rough year has turned that gene off in most UM fans. But seriously, again--don't tell me that just about every UM fan wasn't excited by that game and thought it was a prtent of things to come--even with Steven Threet. Don't tell me you expected 3-9.

Bold 6: I am NOT the "only one" wondering about Stonum. He has been on the Scout Transfer Rumor mill for quite some time. Guys who regularly go to practice and post inside info on Scout question him. Yes, he has a world of talent--but remember, STONUM is the author of the "I'm too talented to just block"--or something to that effect--quote.

Bold 7: See Bold 1.

Bold 8: You're getting redundant.

Bold 9: "Universally hailed as good to great players"??? OK, yeah, but that is a HUGE range, eh? I never said the players weren't good. And to my point: 25% of the class is players that HAVE NO OTHER SCHOLARSHIP OFFERS. NONE. And outside of the six I mentioned--look at their other offers. That is a response to the theory that RR knows his stuff--so look at who is offering our recruits. I did. Not impressed. I'll wait and see if Rodriguez's eye for talent is that good. I guess it worked against UConn and Rutgers pretty well. It oughtta work against OSU and Penn State as well...

Bold 10: We stand on the precipice...three times? Yes, that is some good writing right there. Repetition to make a point. I like it. You're just being catty with that one, dex.

Again, it seems that to question anything about this hire brings out the Screaming Rita in every UM fan these days. You guys are the ones who need to relax. You're all so confident that it will work out...so just save all the stuff like this and sit back, salivating at the idea of throwing it back in our faces when UM finally beats OSU in 2011.

- It's fine to compare first year records - but it's also fucking moronic to pretend every situation was the same.

- There were plenty of UM fans who were with it enough to realize Sheridan/Threet and company weren't going to reproduce Henne/Hart/Long/Manningham. I'm sorry you apparently weren't one of them. Nobody "expected" 3-9, but a lot of people said repeatedly that .500 was likely and a bowl game would be a huge achievement.

- Ohh, the infamous Scout Rumor Mill. And the "INSIDERS!!!". Great, let me tell Eroc to quit bricking the patio outside my house real quick and have him give me his EXPERT INSIDER opinion on Stonum's pad level. I bet he needs to work on it.

- How do you even fucking know these "bad" recruits are making it to campus? I don't hold up RR as some sort of saint and I sure as hell wouldn't be shocked if they got dumped for something better if it comes along. And I'll totally trust your analysis of their "film" over Rodriguez. Definitely.

- It's shitty writing.

- I don't care about questioning. It's just annoying. Quit worrying your pretty little head and enjoy the ride. It's real fuckin easy to sit back and be "that guy" who knows exactly what coach should have done and blah blah blah blah god when did you turn into a Scout suckling Michigan Man dipshit?

For the record, I think The Barking Sphincter is the only person to ever get kicked out of the WLA. Completely joyless assholes with no sense of humor that probably David Carradine themselves are not welcome.

They impelled me to do a little research on the issue of what coach is winning with whose players and when. I certainly don't think it's a mortal sin to question the head coach, nor does it automatically mean the questioner isn't a true UM fan.

That being said, the statement "Charlie Weis, Jim Tressel, and Mark Dantonio--the coaches of Michigan's most hated rivals--all won with with another guy's players. They all came in and implemented different systems," is only partially true, and in the case of ND and MSU, it glosses over some important facts. The following stats are from Phil Steele's magazines over the last several years.

Weis's first season was in 2005. Willingham had been coach the previous three seasons, and he had changed the offensive scheme from Bob Davie's option-style to a pro-set offense. Weis's QB in '05 was then-junior Brady Quinn, who had two full seasons under his belt in the pro-set offense under Ty. Not only that, but in 2005 Weis was fortunate to have every OL who started a game in 2004—that's a combined 60 starts—back for 2005. For the OL squad as a whole, there was a mind-boggling 99 career starts returning for 2005, which was the largest such number in ND history. To recap, Charlie Weis in 2005 had a two-year returning QB with 21 starts under his belt in the same basic offensive scheme—pro-set—along with every returning starting OL, most having two or three years in that pro-set offense, with a total of 99 starts for the OL as a whole.

Dantonio's first season was 2007. While he did change the offense from Smith's more wide-open attack to a more conservative scheme, his QB was Brian Hoyer, a junior with 13 games as a starter under his belt in '05 and '06, setting a school-record for passing attempts in a game in '06. On the offensive line, MSU had 7 starters with a combined 46 starts from the '06 season returning for Dantonio's first season.

In 2008, Michigan had a combined total of 16 career starts returning on the OL, which was 118th in the country. Michigan had two QBs with a combined total of zero returning starts. And all of these players were learning a radically new offensive system, a change that was far more radical in nature than the changes implemented by Tressel, Weis, or Dantonio in their first seasons.

I'm not trying to assert that Tressel, Dantonio, or Weis are lousy coaches. Tressel's record speaks for itself. I think Dantonio is a real solid coach, and I believe the UM-MSU rivalry is going to be more competitive than it's been overall for the last 40 years. While Weis is nowhere the genius that he thinks he is, or appeared to be in 2005 and 2006, I don't think he's as incompetent as most of his detractors think he is, either.

I'm also don't think that RR has proven beyond doubt that he will be a success at UM. His track record gives reason for optimism, but the college coaching ranks are littered with the carcasses of coaches who had solid records of success until their last stop. A recent example is Dennis Franchione, who had good success at TCU and Alabama, going 42-18 with two 10-win seasons, and no losing seasons. He was more or less a washout at Texas A&M and got canned after the '07 season. As HC RR has to take responsibility for the defensive problems last year, especially as he was the one who hired Shafer. I'm not convinced that Gerg is going to be the answer, but if nothing else his resume is a lot longer than Shafer's was.

My point is that judging RR in relation to other coaches' first seasons purely on the basis of what he did with returning players has to take into account just who the returning players were, and what kind of experience they actually had, especially in the offensive system that RR runs. Rodriguez could not have inherited a worse situation at the most critical positions on his offense, and it's silly to think that our offensive suck wasn't a factor in the second-half defensive collapses we saw in some games.

Occasional excess is necessary to remedy the deadening effects of moderation.

But: Michigan had two QBs with a combined total of zero returning starts

I am not sure, but I think they may have had a combined zero plays. And if you look at plays rather than starts, I think the comparison in time played rather than starts for the OL would make an even starker comparison.